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On this day in history - April 30

What Happened On This Day – April 30

  • 1993 CERN announces that World Wide Web protocols will remain free

    By offering the software required to operate a web server with an open license, the European organization ensured its dissemination, and the WWW flourished.

  • 1993 Tennis ace Monica Seles is stabbed by an obsessed fan

    Although the stab wound proved to be relatively harmless, the psychological ramifications meant that Seles did not play any tournaments for over two years.

  • 1975 The fall of Saigon marks the end of the Vietnam War

    As Communist forces gained control of Saigon, South Vietnamese President Duong Van Minh, who had only been in office for 2 days, surrendered unconditionally.

  • 1916 Germany and its World War I allies become the first countries to use daylight saving time (DST)

    The rationale was to save energy to aid the war effort. Other European countries, such as the United Kingdom, first introduced DST later that year.

  • 1789 George Washington becomes the first U.S. President

    Washington took the oath of office on the balcony of Federal Hall in New York City. In the United States, he is venerated as one of the country's founding fathers.

Illustration of stork, signifying birth

Births On This Day,
April 30

  • 1982 Kirsten Dunst

    American actress, singer

  • 1959 Stephen Harper

    Canadian politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Canada

  • 1956 Lars von Trier

    Danish director, screenwriter

  • 1933 Willie Nelson

    American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, actor

  • 1777 Carl Friedrich Gauss

    German mathematician

Illustration of tombstone, signifying death

Deaths On This Day,
April 30

  • 1983 Muddy Waters

    American singer-songwriter, guitarist

  • 1980 Luis Muñoz Marín

    Puerto Rican poet, politician, 1st Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico

  • 1945 Adolf Hitler

    Austrian/German politician, Chancellor of Germany

  • 1883 Édouard Manet

    French painter

  • 1030 Mahmud of Ghazni